Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — It was a recipe for chaos: One downtown Salt Lake City venue, a mountain of 15,000 chocolate bars and an open invite to millions of people.
"Nobody ever does anything cool in Utah — it's pretty boring here," said "Steak," one of the YouTubers who organized the event. "We thought we'd spice it up a little bit."
Steak is a Utah-based YouTuber who specializes in Roblox, livestreams and screaming into microphones. On Monday — his 23rd birthday — he recruited friends and fellow YouTubers Lana's Life, KreekCraft and Mr Booshot to host a meet-and-greet and give away $25,000 worth of Feastables chocolate.
Taken together, the four have more than 16 million subscribers. Around 40 people were lined up outside before the event started.
"It's pretty awesome, honestly. I didn't really expect that many people to show up," Steak said.
Some even came from out of state for a chance to see the Roblox streamers in person. Cole Markin and his dad Jerry Markin drove all the way from Los Angeles on Sunday "specifically for this," Jerry Markin said.
"Steak makes me laugh," Cole Markin said.
It wasn't just Steak and his friends who drew people to the event — lots of people were excited about the Feastables chocolate bars, which are made by the world's most popular YouTuber — MrBeast.
In a gesture of Willy Wonka-esque generosity, MrBeast dumped a palette of the candy bars in Steak's driveway. There was no way Steak could get that many candy bars through airport security, so there was nothing to do but throw a party in his home state, he said.
Steak's energy was infectious. He yelled, started chants and made snow angels in the pile of chocolate bars. He got his fans — mostly middle school-aged boys — riled up, encouraging them to stuff their T-shirts with as many chocolate bars as they could carry. And he livestreamed the whole thing.
To an outsider, Steak's corner of YouTube seems entirely detached from the real world. Gen Z and Gen Alpha don't seem to mind.
His videos center on Roblox, a gaming platform that allows users to create their own games and play others'. Roblox won "Favorite Video Game" at the 2024 Nickelodeon Teen Choice Awards — more than half of all American children under age 16 play it.
